>How do Finland, Sweden and The Netherlands stack up in terms of innovation and productivity? The answer is that, per person compared to the U.S., they do very, very well. And they do it while, in most of the the EU countries, having 6 weeks of vacation and 7 hour days. The case can be made that having a healthy, educated workforce is good for productivity. And they don't appear to be failing. The Dutch, for one, according to BusinessWeek, are still buying cars and appliances for the home. To be able to do that in the midst of a worldwide recession, and to keep people in homes, keep them fed, and provide healthcare during this time, is my definition of a success. Now, they are very energy efficient (e.g., dishwashers and clothes washers/driers are programmed to run in the middle of the night, when demand, and rates, are lowest), so they aren't wasting what they make in all the ways that our culture demands. In any case, socialism and darwinian Capitalism may be opposites, but socialism and free market Capitalism are not opposites: the 3 countries I mentioned are just that, and democratic to boot.
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>Now I think I do understand the American culture. My father's ancestors came our in 1755 and shortly thereafter, so in terms of superficial characteristics having to do with place of birth, and family history, I'll stack mine up against anyone in the room. <s> I don't think it means much: those who have best understood our culture have often been those who grew up outside it (think: de Tocqueville for starters). But it cannot be claimed, in any case, that I lack an understanding of this culture because I, or my family, are late to the party. And the idea that America, a land built by immigrants, all of us, would now hold itself to be burdened by immigrants, is historically ignorant, arrogantly grandiose, and morally repugnant. I'm saying that not about you or any other person, but rather about the idea. The Khmer who has just gotten citizenship is as much American as was my grandmother, a Diamond of the Eastern Star, and has just as much right to shape our country through the political process as any other citizen. And anyone, citizen or not, has the right (and I think the obligation) to voice his/her opinions about the country: ideas are valid when they prove themselves, not depending on whether their first American ancestor came from Germany in 1760 with the Prussians fighting for the British, or came in the industrial revolution in the 1880's to the upper mid-West, or were WWII German POW's in Oswego, NY or any of the other POW camps that were on US soil. American is American. Proclaiming that one set of Americans is better than another: that is un-American. The idea that ideas that come from non-Americans are second-rate because of their origin is an ad hominem argument, the refuge of the ignorant, even to the point of knowing the inferiority of the argument. We owe it to those who gave so much to create and build this revolutionary country of justice and equality for all to do better.
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Bravo!

Tamar